Medicine for asthma is different for each person.The type of medicines that will be prescribed will depend upon whether the person with asthma has mild, moderate or severe asthma.

Two types of asthma medicines:

·Quick-Relief Medicines - quickly relieve asthma attacks

·Long-Term Control Medicines - help to reduce the number of asthmaattacks, but don’t relieve the attack when it is happening.

Health care providers will prescribe both types of medicine.

Long-term control medicine is usually taken every day, even if the person with asthma does not have an asthma attack very often.

Quick-relief medicine is taken when an asthma attack begins.

If a person is using their quick-relief medicine more and more frequently, their asthma is probably not being controlled well by their long-term medicine.This should be discussed with their health care provider.There may be another type of medicine that could be more effective.

Asthma Action Plans:

The Asthma Action Planwill contain individually tailored plans on medications to take and actions to follow when an asthma attack occurs, or when it gets worse. This plan is filled out with a health care provider’s assistance.

The seriousness of a life-threatening asthma attack can often be avoided when a person with asthma and his or her health care provider work together to create a personal Asthma Action Plan that can be followed when an attack happens.

Parents of children with asthma might decide to give the following people a copy of their child’s Asthma Action Plan in case of an emergency:

·Day Care staff

·Teacher

·School Nurse

·Principle

·Babysitter

·Grandparents

An Asthma Action Plan will inform an adult what needs to be done when an asthma attack happens with the child, and what to do if the attack gets worse.

To print an Asthma Action Plan that can be used with a health care provider, click this link: